Beer news in nyc

From March, 2013

Well, readers, Beer Week came and went. And it was a pretty good time. Here are some of our thoughts about the best (read: drunkest) week of the year. 508 is here, y’all: Homebrewer (and saxophonist) Chris Cuzme took over brewing operations at 508 GastroBrewery in November. This beer week we got to taste 4 separate new 508 beers: Saxual Healing, Pompale, Hall Pass (below) and Szechuan Paradise Saison. All four were awesome. Cuzme was all over beer week, launching Saxual Healing and celebrating the inaugural use of his cask (dubbed Sir Cask-a-lot). We’re very much looking forward to see…

For those of you who are staying in the city for Easter and do not strictly observe Passover, the NYC Craft Beer Festival is a great opportunity to catch some rare beers like Founders KBS and Alesmith Decadence, or see some of the trends in craft beer. The beer list is quite large and can be overwhelming but IPAs seem to have the most representation in its various forms. Blue Point and Harpoon will be serving their White IPAs, 21st Amendment will have their Back in Black IPA, Alesmith and Firestone Walker will bring their classic west coast style IPAs, and…

Monday April 1, Mission D0lores will celebrate its third anniversary with the tapping of a collaborative beer brewed by the Captain Lawrence Brewing and the Mission Dolores team called the Prime Directive at 7 p.m. The beer is described as a session ale brewed with Amarillo and Centennial hops and “dry-hopped” with lemongrass. There will also be an open bar from 6 to 7 p.m. It is hard to imagine 4th Avenue in Park Slope Brooklyn before Mission Dolores, in just three years the bar has put its unique stamp on an area full of solid beer bars. We love…

Saturday March 30 NYC Craft Beer Festival returns for its spring edition with an impressive beer list. The Connoisseur Lounge will feature some of the latest releases and hard to get beers like Founders Doom (a barrel aged double IPA), Alesmith Decadence, and Brooklyn’s Silver Anniversary Lager. The beers list for the general Admission and VIP ticket holders is also impressive, with local brews like Sixpoint Harbinger Saison, Brooklyn Brewery Irish Dry Stout, and Southampton Bier de Mars. We’re also excited for some other great spring beers like Founders All Day IPA, Firestone Walker Pale 31, Maine Brewing Peeper Ale,…

On Sunday, March 24th, the Diamond in Greenpoint will hold a Crawfish Boil at 2 p.m. For $8, you’ll get a half pound of spicy crawfish with the works, bayou-style. Saison d’Ecrivesses from Bayou Teche, will be on tap. You’ll also find a sweat lodge in the backyard of the bar, set up by the Center for Investigative Research, reports Gothamist. Sounds like a fun – and interesting – event!

We usually like to get out of the city on St. Patrick’s day to avoid the influx of intoxicated green clad crowds. Last year we headed up to Peekskill NY, just up the Hudson line on Metro North and visited the Peekskill Brewery and Birdsall House. It was a great way to relax, listen to Irish music, and enjoy some beers with friends. This year Peekskill Brewery will host its Kegs and Eggs event on Saturday, March 16 starting at 7 a.m. and going all day. The event is at their new brewery which only about a block from the…

On March 18th Bronx Brewery’s third specialty beer, Bronx Belgian Pale Ale, will start hitting bars and restaurants. The official release party will be held at Coopers Craft & Kitchen on March 21 from 7 to 10 p.m. The Belgian Pale Ale departs significantly from the previous recipes with the use of two strains of Trappist yeast and Belgian candi sugar (common in the Belgian Dubbel style). Brewer Damian Brown says the beer was crafted “to bring the distinctive Belgian yeast profile to the forefront.” The Belgian Pale Ale should be a nice addition to the spring season and an interesting…

Hopefully everyone has recovered from the marathon that was NYC Beer Week in time for the weekend. You can enjoy a slow afternoon on Sunday with Dogfish Head at Standings in the East Village. The craft beer and sports bar will be serving Rhizing Bines and Noble Rot on tap along with some free Belgian Fries from Pommes Frites at 2 p.m.

“I want you to raise your glasses to New York State beer,” said Scott Vaccaro (pictured below), owner of Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, and keynote speaker at last week’s Brewer’s Choice, one of the featured events of Beer Week. “All of a sudden New York is becoming this brewing scene,” he noted, explaining that in 2004, there were 34 brewers in the state. Now there are 110. “When you go out to eat, when you go out to drink, you have to think about where you’re spending your dollars, think about who you want to support, think about where you…

Coming up on March 30, The Hand Crafted Tasting Company will present the NYC Craft Beer Festival – Spring Seasonals. This event will take place at the Lexington Avenue Armory and will highlight spring offerings from 75 craft breweries. As in all previous festivals from Hand Crafted Tasting, it will be held in two sessions, 12:30 to 4 p.m., and 6 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are sold in three installments: General Admission, VIP and Connoisseur. VIP and Connoisseur level tickets entitle holders to an extra hour of tasting, while the Connoisseur level grants access to a “Connoisseurs Lounge” with special…